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2.12.2014

The Story of Magpie MKAL... or how I put a bird on it!

WARNING: MAPGIE MKAL SPOILERS BELOW.....

I know many of you have been waiting to hear the story of Magpie Mystery KAL and how I came up with it's crazypants construction! The guesses while everyone was knitting Magpie had me cracking up... very few guessed the shrug/shawl/scarf combo that it actually is!

I started with one directive... to come up with an innovative construction to keep the knitter's guessing. I knew I was working with 2 colors of Jill Draper's newest yarn Esopus and had a full skein of the main color, and half skein of a contrasting variegated. And then I started to play! I lost track of how many times I knit and ripped the first two mitered triangles I wanted the back to have a sufficient depth, but not be so big as to cause me to run out of yarn.... sometimes design is more about the ripping and reimagining than the knitting. Everytime I reworked the design it got better! Once I made it to the first "arm" I knew it was time for some double sided lace with beads... and I thought I would design a southwest inspired arrow shape that worked outward towards the wrist (or bottom of the scarf).

I finished up the first half and decided to block it to get the measurements before working the other side. The biggest trick here was to get those "arms" as long as possible without running out of yarn! AND THEN OH MY GOODNESS... I looked down at the blocking board, and do you know what I saw?

I PUT A BIRD ON IT! (if you aren't in the US and can't see the video try this link)

And so Magpie was named!

Magpie can be worn multiple ways....

As a Shrug!

As a Shawl!

Or as a Scarf!

I can't wait to see how you wear your Magpie... this is one versatile bird : )!Thanks so much for trusting me on this grand adventure... I know I had some of you guessing until the very end!